Floor protection for railway cars



June 17, 1941 w. J. TANGERMAN FLOOR PROTECTION FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Aug. 10, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l Al Z Al O O O O O O O O Q O O6 0 J O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Q n n O n O 00 A 00 000 0 000 O O O C O O O 000 0000 5 000 n 000 0 000 O O O 6 OO O 6 .Z E z 0 0 6 Z Q @0 e a a 00 O O 000 O O O O m O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 0 O O O O 0 O 0 O O O A O O O O O O OO O 0 Al O O O e O O O O O O O a O O O O .w lpLdilwimilnmLm 2., hLM m Q A June 17, 1941. w. JQTANGERMAN FLOOR PROTECTION FOR RAILWAY CARS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed'Aug. 10, 1940 Patented June 17, 1941 FLOOR PROTECTION FOR RAILWAY CAR S William J. Tangerman, Hammond,.Ind., assignor to Standard Railway Equipment Manufacturing Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application August 10, 1940, Serial No. 352,046

7 Claims. (Cl. 105-422) 7 l3 spaced therefrom on either side thereof. The

The invention relates to railway freight cars of the house or roofed type and'has for its object to provide means for protecting the wooden floors now in general use in such type of equipment,

side sills l3 are connected to the center sill II- by cross members. such as holsters, cross bearers and cross ties not shown'in the drawings.- Addi which means will not interfere with the securing .5 tional support for the floor is provided by' the of blocking to the wooden flooring, longitudinally extending angle shaped. floor sup- Another object is to protect the-wooden fioorports l4. Longitudinally extending Z-shape ing with a metallic sheathing which is perforated auxiliary sill members 16 are secured to the side so that the car lading may be secured to the sills l3 and prel'e pw y d outwa y flooring through the apertures. therefrom. The auxiliary sillmembers l6 :sup-

The floors of railway cars are subjected to a port the side wall ll of the car,-v including the great deal. of abuse by nails and spikes being spaced apart door posts l9 shown in plan section driven into them whenattaching' blocking to in Fig; I. The doorway isincluded between the them, and also by tracking the lending into the (300 1 08 19; Side" pla s" 20 form pp car and by dragging pieces of lading from one )5 edges of' the side" walls i1 and thereof 22 .expart of the car to another. That portion of the tends between the sideplates 20; The wooden car between the opposite side wall doorways is floor 23 comprises boards extending crosswise of given the most abuse by lading being hauled the car'and' resting uponthe center sill H and through the car (by truck or otherwise) to an side sills iii. The ends of the boards preferably adjacent car. However, my improved floor pro- 20 overlie the webs of the auxiliary sill members It. zgctign mgy be agplied over the entire area of a h pro l vil ig Z5f feral/the1 woogentfiogg e oor desire comprises a; pur y '0 m a lo s 'ee 5 Another object of the invention is to prevent V which extend substantially between the side the curling of. the edges of the floor protecting walls IT. The metallic sheets 26, preferably of plates. Heavy loads are often hauled into rail- 25 e y" light gauge /s has been ou d Su tway cars upon trucks having wheels of small able in most'cases), are bolted: to the Wooden diameter and'the pressure of such wheels upon floor 23 by 501155 llaivin'g 011hteTST1IIk'hedSi5$ the fioor of the car presses-the central portions shown in detail in Fig. '7." Such bo ts 23 y of the protecting plate into the wood floor and n x nd dii fi e m lli Sheet 26' and the causestthe edbgescif tlze plate to curl'upwaigly. zvoodden node; 33, astfihowrl I in' Ftizg. maydex- Ano her 0 j'e is 0 provide afioor pr ection en in a lion, roug par s o e un er which may be easily installed andparts of 'which frame rtI 0 such as through th 'loneitudinal fl r may be easily removed and replaced when it is 5 1 130 'sas shown in Figszz and' 3; The'prodesired is repairthe floor tecting covering 25' may cover the entire" floor of Other objects and advantages ofm'y invention the car or merely'that part ofthe floorincluded will be apparent from the following detailed debetwe fi the doorways 0 the R preflabl scription by referring to the accompanying construction embodies a protectin dv drawin which extends the width of one sheetbeyond the In the ra in doorposts H! on either side oi the doorway.' The Fig. 1 is a plan view of the portion of a railway 49 threshold plate g9 y ov p h fiddling D car floor adjacent thedoorways of the car. fitt n S ets SHOWH left of Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the car or rnavabut the pro e n shcets 25, as shown at the doorway, asindicated by line 2? of Fig atIthefi V \f m ii h 6.. h: wilt?tteiii it i iiifit63223331533;i132 in is. 5? Shi t -55? tag fihtttfiti doorway, as indicatedby line 3-3'01' Fig. 1. sheets 26 are overlapped; A groove 35iis provided Fig. 4 is a section through the floor of the in the wooden fio'or Z3 and the overlappedparts can, as indicated byline 4-4 of Fig. 1'. 36' of the sheets 26' are depressed below the gen- Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are enlarged views of the por-- era'l level of the sheets'and disposed in the groove tions of Fig, 4', included within'the circles marked 5,, 6 and 1 respectively. p Figs. 8 and; 9 are views similar to Figs. 5 and- 6 respectively showing modified constructions.

. As shown in, Figs. 2" and 3 the underfran'ieof the car comprises a center sill fland side sills 35, The depressed or overlapped parts K were connected to the body" parts of the sheets" '26 by inclined webs" 3F. A member 39, preferably comprising a strip, overlies the overlapped parts 36'- of the sheets 26 and has itsedges If beveled complementary to the inclined wees'ae orthe sheets 26. The upper surface 42 of the member 39 is preferably flush with the body parts of the sheets 26 and the member 39 is tightly secured to the wooden floor 23 by bolts 44 having countersunk heads. The bolts 44 may extend only through the wooden floor 23, as shown in Fig. 5, or may extend in addition through parts of the underframe ID of the car.

Fig. 6 shows a section at the extreme edge of the floor protecting covering 25. The edge 49 of the single sheet 50 is depressed in a manner similar to that shown in Fig. and a similar beveled strip 39 overlies the depressed part 49 of the sheet. Bolts 44 as heretoforedescribed extend through the strip 39 and wooden 'floor'23 and clamp the edge of the sheet 50.

Fig. 9 shows a modified means of securing the floor protecting covering 25 to the'wooden floor 23, The sheet 59 is formed with a depending flange 52 which is disposed in a groove 53 in the wooden floor 23. Bolts 54 having countersunk heads secure the sheet 59 to the wooden floor 23. In the modification shown in Fig. 8, the ad jacent edges 55 of the sheets 56 abut rather than overlap. The depressed parts 58 are connected'to the body parts of the sheets 56 by inclined webs 59, as heretofore described, and the usual beveled strip 39 overlies the depressed parts 58 of'the sheets. In this case, notches are provided in the edges 55 of the she'ets56 to'accommodate the bolts 44 inp'lace of the holes provided in the depressed parts of the sheets shown in Fig. 5.

The wood used in the wooden'floors of cars of this type is commonly of a relatively soft type. Heavy loads are hauled in on truckshaving wheels of small diameter and such wheels squeeze the body part of the sheet into the wooden floor with consequent upcurling'of the edges unless such edges are securely clamped. As shown in Fig. 5 particularly, the beveled edges 4| of the'strip 39 are in contact with the inclined webs 38 of the sheets 26 over relatively small areas at the upper parts ofthe web 38. The overlapped parts 36 of the sheets 26 are securely fastened by being clamped between the strip 39 and the wood floor 23. The marginal portionof each sheet'26 is thus fastened at two spaced apart places; i. e., at the webs 38 and the overlapped parts 36. As hereinabove pointed out, the rolling of heavily loaded wheels over the floor tends to curl the edges of the sheets upwardly, ,Such curling is resisted, in part,iby the strip. 39 partially overlying the webs 38 and bythe contact areas between the strip 39 and webs 38 being positioned substantially at the level ,of the body-parts of the sheets 26. The possibility is thuselirninated that the marginal parts of the sheetsZB might straighten out or otherwisefdeform'and thereby permit curling ofthe sheets. 5 I

It is evident from Fig. 5 that each of the over-. lapped parts 36 is provided with holes through which the bolts 44'are inserted. When, the bolts 44 are tightened, the strip 39 forces the right hand sheet 26ytowardthe right and the. left hand sheet 26:toward the left preferably as far as permitted by the clearance between the bolts 44 and saidholes. Atightly interlocked joint is thus formed to resist upcurling of the sheets 26.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred; form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention isnot limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur topersons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In a railway car having a wood floor, a protecting covering for said floor comprising a pair of metallic sheets arranged with their adjacent marginal portions overlapping, a relatively shallow groove in said wood floor, said marginal portions being depressed below the general level of said sheets and disposed in said groove, a member overlying said marginal portions and having its upper surface substantially flush with the general level of said sheets, and means arranged to secure said member to said wood floor.

2. In a railway car having a wood floor, a protecting covering for said floor comprising a pair of metallic sheets arranged with their adjacent marginal portions overlapping, a relatively shallow groove in said wood floor, said marginal portions being depressed below the general level of said sheets and disposed in said groove, a member overlying said marginal portions said member comprising solid metal having a depth extending from the uppermost of said marginal portions substantially to the general level oi said sheets and a width extending substantially between the body parts of said sheets, bolts extending through the marginal portions of both'of said sheets and arranged. tosecure said member to said wood floor,'a-nd apertures in said sheets for securing a lading to said floor.

3. In a railway car having a wood floor, a protecting covering for'said floor comprising a pair of metallic sheets arranged with their adjacent marginal portions overlapping, a groove in said'wood floor, said marginal portions being depressed below the general level of said sheets and disposed in said groove, a member overlying said marginal portions and arranged to form a substantially smooth and continuous surface in cooperation with the body parts of said sheets, and securing means arranged to secure said member to said wood floor, said marginal portions being connected to the body parts of said sheets by inclined webs so as to form a downwardly converging depression, and said member having edges complementary with and engaging said webs. I V

4. In a railway car having a wood floor, a protecting covering for said floor comprising a pair of relatively thin metallic sheets arranged with their marginal portions overlapping, a relatively shallow groove in said woodfloor, .said marginal portions being depressed below the general level of said sheets and disposed in said groove, a member overlying said marginal portions and having its upper surface substantially flush with the general level of said sheets, said member having a great thicknessrelative to said sheets to prevent curling of the edges thereof and a small thickness relative to said floor to avoid weakening the floor, and bolts arranged to secure said member to said wood floor.

5. In a railwayv carhaving a wood floor, a protecting covering for said-floor comprising a pair of metallic sheets arranged with their adjacent marginal portions overlapping, a groove in said wood floor, said marginal portions being depressed below the general level of said sheets and disposed in said groove, a strip overlying said marginal portions, said marginal portions being connected to the body parts of said sheets by downwardly converging webs, said strip having downwardly converging sides, and. means to tightly secure said strip to said floor, thereby creating contact pressure, between the lower side of the strip and the uppermost of said marginal portions and between said converging webs and said converging sides.

6. In a railway car having a wood floor, a protecting covering for said floor comprising a pair of metallic sheets arranged with their adjacent marginal portions overlapping, a relatively shallow groove in said floor, said marginal portions being depressed below the general level wardly converging edges arranged to engage with said webs, and apertures in said sheets for securing a lading to said wood floor.

7. In a railway car having a floor comprising an upper surface consisting of a pair of metallic sheets arranged with their marginal portions overlapping and depressed below the general level of said sheets, a member overlying said marginal portions, said marginal portions being connected to the body parts of said sheets by inclined webs so as to form a downwardly converging depression and said member having edges beveled to engage with said webs, and means to secure said member to the floor so as to create a contact pressure between said member and the marginal portions and webs of the sheets.

WILLIAM J. TAN'GERMAN. 

